1. Field definitions should be constructed in consultation with the student ’s advisor and with the other examiners; the field definitions are then approved by the director of graduate studies. Fields may be defined temporally within regions, nations or empires (e.g., Byzantine Empire, colonial Latin America, China since 1800) or thematically or comparatively (e.g., European intellectual history, comparative empires, diasporic histories). Within each field, an encyclopedic knowledge of detail is not expected, but the candidate should demonstrate familiarity with the important problems and substantial mastery of the basic literature in each field.
2. Since the purpose of the exam is to achieve breadth of knowledge, the selection of the four fields should be made with the aim of achieving range across time and space. Students are required to include an early and a modern field (with chronological coverage suitable to the particular regional frame). It is strongly recommended that all students present a field that includes a region of the world beyond their area of specialization.
Please note: A student may not present more than two fields in a single national history.